Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-06-23
A RNAKE FARM
How the Isaatlesnakes Have Made
Captain Slower Rich.

captain Stover hfcDs
A correspondent has visited the celebraE
ted snake farm-''r 'rattlesna.Ses folW
near Cation, H., owned by Captain Dan
Slower and wife, and assisted by William
Dunn, agent at The Illineis Cealral Depot.
1t might be surmised tuaI the breding and
propagation OF raitles lakes aud other
reptiles was not only a dangerous but an
unpleasant occupation. However, these
poor but honest people have learned that
there is money in snakes, and last year
they cleared most enough from their sales
TO pay the expenses OF TIE family OF fours
WHO buys ra,tlesna Aes, ard what on
earth do they waut with themY' you ask.
Why, for use in the mauu 'acture of the
new cure for rheumatism. A firm in
Philadelphia uses tue oil in their remedy
and pays good price for veIyrattlesnake
delivered at their laboratory NJ. Slower
has contracted with he fitm to furnish
them $50 of .that snecies ducing the pres
ent season II $225 each, none TO measure
less than A feet in leueIh or TO be less
than six years of age. Tue older the
snake the better and st onger the oil.
Sunday the sun shone out bright and
warm, which brought out the snakes in
large numbers to besk in the warm rays,
and, as Mr.. S,over said, would be good
day to teke stroll over 'rat;ie-snake
forty" Procuring good stout stick
and donning heavy pair of boots, your
correspondent joined Stover and Dunn
in the hnnt. Dunn is a comparatively
new man in the snake business aud has
had several narrow escapes from being
bitten by the deadly reptiles. but he is
learning fast. To show us how easily 1t is
to kill snake he picked up blue racer
by the tail, that was lying coiled up Ia
the sunlight in half comatose condition,
and giving ii couple Of whirls over his
head in a lighting manner, he cracked IL
like whip, causing its head to part from
its body and spin through the air Pro.
ceeding little farther, we came to The
mounds, little raised places on the snake
farm, where the suakes burrow in winter
and breed in summer. There ere thirty
seven of these mounds on me iarm, and
on the south side Of one cf me largest OF
these where they could get the full bene-
fit of the SUP, lay, coiIed up sound asleep,
forty three large rattlesDekes, seven
blacSsnases, aud numei Gus other smaller
reptiles, not one of which seemed TO re-
cognize our presence. Slower and Dunn
do not kin OF Tue whole crop yearly, but
leave many for breeding purposes.
why" said the former, "thet mound"
there coutains probably dozen nests OF
eggs, and each nest at least ten eggs. l
have found nests shat contained as high
as eighteen young ratlers tie largest nos
over two inches ia 'eogth. Their eggs a'e
about the size OF those of pa, fridge, but
have soft sle,l. The fam is tract OF
virgin prairie, aud has never seen a plow,
and Dan says in summer IFS native grass
q hinh ,3atfnm IL ar pWPoilaTf
place for the reptiles to hide in
After retiring to the house the two
snake breeders exhibited string of rat
tiers several feet in length, which tn y
captured last summer, the whole footing
up 76S rattles.
Some of the snakes possessed 25 rattlers
and button. each rattle counting a year
of its age and the button fraction of a
year.
Mrs. Stover also haG in box Of saw
dust under a coke stove q rastlesnakes
eggs, which. she said, would begin to
hatch in few days after which event
the children would be kept busy catching
flies to feed the tiny Tets.
Stover and Dunn have several pet rat
tiers around the house, which ere as
harmless as kittens, made so by their
poison sac having been removed from he
roofs of their mouths and their fangs
clipped with pincners. all this being done
while the snakes were unGer the Influence
of chloroform. They have no eqral as
mice exterminators. and in the summer
keep the place free from bugs, flies, and
bad boys. Ii is needless to say the neigh
bors' children do not trouble the Stever
household or their premises.
Besides supplying the Philadelphia
firm with snakes for their use the breed
ers have filed orders for different parties
in all parts of tie country, mostly pbysi-
clans. A doctor in So Louis took sever.
al live pairs last summer at So per pair.